


Apnea

by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Coughing, M/M, Mild Blood, Sword Dancer, coughing up blood, it strikes again, poor lloyd, set before the Temple of Earth, the zelloyd is there if u squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23177191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal
Summary: Lloyd’s voice is raspy, warped around something in his airway. He holds up a hand; he straightens up. With a slow, deep inhale, he makes a good show of a single large breath, but it’s thin and stoppered, as if there’s a cork in that red-lipped bottleneck of his and he can’t manage to pry it free.“S’oka--”Then he coughs.And it’s a hacking thing.
Relationships: Lloyd Irving/Zelos Wilder
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648339
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Apnea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KawaiiCinnamonroll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiCinnamonroll/gifts).



When Zelos had first raised an eyebrow at the creepy-ass lingering spirit of a four-armed swordsman, Lloyd had shrugged, grinned, and said, “Well, we’ve fought him before in an underground mine shaft. And now we have you! So no biggie! This’ll be a sinch. We’ll be out of here and at the Temple of Earth in no time.” 

Zelos watches as Lloyd’s back crunches against the wide trunk of a tree and he wonders if any part of a “sinch” was supposed to be reassuring when their asses are being handed to them.

“ _This_ is your definition of easy?!” Zelos shouts across the clearing, half to make sure Lloyd is okay enough to respond and half to actually get a legitimate answer.

Lloyd stumbles forward, nearly tripping over the thick, sprawling roots. “Uh…in my defense, this wasn’t…” A strangely blank look passes over Lloyd’s face: pale and wane, before his nose scrunches like he tastes something bad. “This is harder than I remember.”

_“Grand Cross!”_

The forest floor lights up.

Curling white encircles the skeletal swordsman. Swords-thing? Swords-bones? Zelos isn’t sure. He’s never seen anything like it before. Not that he needs proof besides looking at the thing to know it, but when it screams in pain, it definitely isn’t human. When it crashes to the ground, sprawling out on its vertebrae, the entire Gaoracchia Forest shakes.

Once it’s standing, Genis sweeps in with an Air Thrust.

Raine shouts to Lloyd, “Lloyd! Now!”

Zelos gets a funny feeling in his gut--he’s not sure why--as he watches Lloyd nod and break into a jogging run towards the Sword Dancer. Raine charges a Photon and launches it time with Lloyd’s spinning Tempest.

As it fades, the skeleton is happy at its defeat.

Genis and Raine and Lloyd get caught up in a conversation about the spirit and what it’s doing and how they should get rid of it, considering that before it disappeared, the spirit had promised a “next time.” 

Lloyd, as always, vows that he’ll get stronger which Zelos finds ironic considering he looks like he’s one wrong wind away from falling over. The fight must’ve done a bigger number than he thought. Lloyd’s voice comes out wobbly, like there’s a frog in his throat.

When Zelos meets eyes with Colette, he knows he’s not imagining things.

“We should keep moving,” Sheena says. Her gaze darts around the shadows of the thick underbrush. The long line of her shoulders is rigid. “This isn’t a safe place to rest.” 

“Right.” Lloyd nods. He clears his throat. 

He takes one step before the red of his shirt stretching across his shoulder blades pinches with a flinch, or maybe it’s a jerk. It’s not so much a sound as the motion that’s alarming.

Genis and Colette are at his side in an instant.

“Lloyd, you okay?” Genis’ eyes are wide, head tilted in that funny way he does when he’s trying to get a good look at his best friend’s face.

Colette puts a hand on his arm. Then, she thinks better of it and reaches into her bag. “Here--”

“--h-hang on.”

Lloyd’s voice is raspy, warped around something in his airway. He holds up a hand; he straightens up. With a slow, deep inhale, he makes a good show of a single large breath, but it’s thin and stoppered, as if there’s a cork in that red-lipped bottleneck of his and he can’t manage to pry it free. 

“S’oka--” 

Then he coughs.

And it’s a hacking thing. 

His body bows forward. A hand jerks up to his mouth. His other hand flutters to his knee and it would seem odd, it would seem strange, but Zelos’ body seems to recognize what will happen to Lloyd’s and why before his mind does. There’s a thin, shaking inhale from a torso that decidedly does not move and Lloyd drops. 

Zelos shoots forward. 

He manages to loop his arms under Lloyd’s and bring him back against his chest as his boots kick forward against dead leaves and twigs.

“It’s okay,” Zelos breathes, quiet enough for only Lloyd’s ears to hear as he coughs again. And again. And again. “Hey. Breathe. I’ve got you, idiot.”

Zelos sinks to the forest floor with him.

“Lloyd!” 

Colette and Genis fall to their knees on either side. Zelos doesn’t quite get their frenzied panic until he realizes there’s something wet and syrupy dripping along his forearm, trailing down his sleeve draped across the front of Lloyd’s chest. 

Oh.

_Oh._

Zelos pulls back to peer over Lloyd’s shaking shoulder. From ear to cheek, Zelos can see only pallid skin and glazed brown eyes. Blood drips from his open, uncharacteristically slack mouth. Zelos can feel under his arm the hiccuping spasms of sputtering lungs within his chest as they try and fail over and over again to do their one job.

“MOVE!”

On instinct, Genis rolls back as Raine fills his place and cups Lloyd’s cheek in her hand. She doesn’t hesitate when blood speckles her wrist. Her other hand glows golden-white as it passes over his front. Her face is pinched tight, focused, as under her breath, she mutters incantation after incantation. 

At last, finally, when Zelos feels like his legs are falling asleep on either side of Lloyd’s from the awkward positioning, Raine pulls away and Lloyd shudders.

Genis and Colette are at his shoulders, now. Zelos is fairly certain they have nearly forgotten he’s there, even if he deserves a thanks or two for being the only thing keeping their childhood friend upright.

“W-wow,” Lloyd rasps. His chest rises and falls quickly with hungry breaths. “Thanks.”

Raine’s staff crashes hard against Lloyd’s temple.

Zelos leans back as far as he can.

Lloyd yelps and grasps for his head with bloodied gloves.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were injured?!” she cries. “I could have healed you in the fight _before_ making you do that Photon Tempest.”

“I didn’t…I didn’t think it was that--!” 

“You didn’t _think_ , huh? Oh, that’s hardly surprising.”

Zelos tries to stuff his chuckle before it breaks free but fails. 

When Colette reaches forward and takes both Lloyd’s shoulders in her hands, there’s something earnest and pained in the blue of her eyes as she searches Lloyd’s. Then she says, “Don’t ‘it’s okay’ it next time.”

Lloyd stares at her. 

Colette’s face flushes. Her fingers tighten in the red of his shirt sleeves.

Zelos thinks he must miss something in their wordless conversation, because when Lloyd finally sighs, Colette does, too. 

“Yeah,” Lloyd whispers. “Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> my AMAZING friend [Happy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiCinnamonroll/) gave me one of my literal FAVORITE BAD THINGS HAPPEN PROMPTS YET--"coughing up blood" paired with my FAVORITE CHARACTER OF ALL TIME and honestly...I haven't written for Lloyd in probably a decade. i miss him. this was SO NICE to write him again....and hurt him........................
> 
> if you want to see more Bad Things Happen to a character, hmu!! [my bingo card](https://somefinelipstickonthatpig.tumblr.com/post/612799263146115072/rated-t-fandom-tales-of-symphonia-prompt) still has some spaces left and I am always happy to serve


End file.
